- Internships are the building blocks of your résumé. Apply to them. Meet people.
- Choose a degree that is relevant to the real world. Minor in History if you love it so much.
- Everyone knows how to use Microsoft Office. Putting it under the “Skills” section of your résumé is not impressive.
- See the world. This is the only time you have in your life to spend months in a foreign country. Take advantage of your lack of responsibility to travel.
- 99.9% of employers will never look at your transcript. A 4.0 GPA will not land you a job. Good interpersonal skills might.
- No employer cares whether you were on the executive board of your fraternity or sorority or other campus organization. Serve the organization because you love it, not simply to use it as space-filler on your résumé.
- Proofread everything. Twice. Or else no one will believe that you’re “detial-oriented.”
- You have four (or five) years to make something of yourself. Use that time wisely.
- Go out with your friends on a Tuesday night despite having a test on Wednesday. The test won’t matter in ten years, but your friendships will.
- Do not expect the college senior to fall in love with you after you sleep together. Actually, just don’t sleep together. This will not end well.
- Really get to know your professors. Use office hours to your advantage. You never know what doors they can open for you.
- Graduate school is rarely a good idea, especially if you’re only using it to delay the real world for a few years. The more money you make now, the less debt you’ll have later.
- Realize that you will be in debt until you’re forty. Make peace with this early.
- One bad grade won’t ruin your life. Get over yourself.
- Beware of credit cards. No matter what they say, money isn’t free.
- Don’t burn bridges. You never know when you might need help from someone.
- Eat good food. Nothing will make you feel worse than six straight nights of Ramen.
- Buy a plunger before you actually need said plunger. Just trust me on this one.
- Press save. It will keep you from having that 4:00am mental breakdown.
- All-nighters will not help you learn the material. Budget time throughout the day to study so that you can actually sleep before the final exam.
- Use a condom. No one wants that “I’m late” text.
- Work during the summers. Employers want someone with real-life experience.
- Call your mom once a week. She wants to stay involved in your life, and a twenty-minute phone conversation won’t kill you.
- You have four years to learn your alcohol limit. This will save you from puking at the office Christmas party.
- The college cafeteria will make you fat. So will alcohol. Be careful about what you’re putting into your body.
- Find a few hours each week to work out. Cardio is great stress relief.
- So is sex. Booty calls are sometimes necessary. Don’t beat yourself up for it in the morning.
- Learn to cook. Eating out is expensive and unhealthy. A few basics can last you a long time.
- Take pictures. Not everything has to be posted to Instagram, but you will want to have these memories documented.
- Volunteer. Not because you have to, but because you want to. The Humane Society always needs people to play with the animals.
- Learn how to budget. Your parents won’t be around to give you money forever.
- Buy shower shoes. Use them. Save yourself from foot fungus.
- Beer is expensive. Buy vodka.
- Interviews are nerve-wracking. Practice with a friend before you go.
- Find good references. They can be the difference between being offered your dream job and being turned down.
- It’s okay to turn down your first job offer to wait for a better one. Have faith in yourself.
- If you’re treated like a slave at your internship, it’s okay to leave. Find a company that sees your worth.
- Learn how to code HTML. This is an invaluable skill.
- Also learn Photoshop. Every company in the world needs someone who can design a poster.
- Take a couple classes just for fun. There’s a difference between smart and educated.
- Know your priorities. Stick to them.
- Start searching for a job a year before you graduate. It takes time to find something you want.
- Apply for jobs you may not be completely qualified for. You may be the only applicant.
- Don’t get too discouraged when you fail at something. Lay in bed for two days. Cry. Then get back up and start living again.
- Everyone has something to teach you. Listen to them.
- Make mistakes, but be sure to learn from them.
- Textbooks are expensive and you will never need them again. Rent, don’t buy.
- No one will ever care how wasted you were last night. They saw it first hand. Shut up.
- No one is responsible for you except you. Think twice before you do something.
- Don’t think that these have to be the best four years of your life. Life after graduation is pretty awesome too.
I don’t totally agree with #47. Depending on your major, Your textbooks may be valuable as references in your job. I’m glad I saved some of my engineering textbooks.
I really wish I had a copy of that reference book from the FE…
^THIS. Save your books, engineers!
I disagree with your statement about grad school. With the number of grads in the US today, the Masters degree has become the new bachelors. A couple years can be the difference between settling or getting a job you are actually proud of.
Depends on what you go to grad school for. MBA, Masters in some type of engineering, law degree, etc = useful. Masters in Fine Arts or History? Useless.
Masters in the high paying engineering fields like Chemical and Petroleum are pretty useless. Huge waste of money.
Go stright for your PE.
Personal experience with the Master’s degree in History. It was a great education, and it got me my job, but it wasn’t worth the debt.
For half of all law students who don’t get full time jobs as lawyers, the law degree was useless. For the rest, the degree was useful in that they have legal jobs, but the majority of those jobs will make it hard to service the debt (average law school debt is somewhere around $100k or $125k.
So you’re saying a law degree is useful, while a Masters of History is useless? I have lawyer friends who are in mountains of debt, wishing they didn’t go to law school. Meanwhile, I have a Masters in Religious Studies (I would venture you’d put that in the same category as History) and my current boss has told me it is the reason why I got my job (which is, incidentally, not *directly* related to religion at all). I went to a good school, took classes at various graduate schools, and made lots of connections I otherwise would not have had the chance to make. I factored in debt to my decision of where to go, and chose the place that gave me a half-tuition scholarship. I also worked my butt off to hold 2 jobs while I was in grad school so that I wasn’t behind in the professional world and also made money to help pay for the tuition that wasn’t covered by the school. It is not just across the board useless to get a graduate degree, even in fields that aren’t directly connected to a high-paying job. Find financial help, and sometimes it is worth it to follow your passions and make connections.
I think it should be noted though that an MA in a humanities subject does provide relevant skills that employers look for. I wouldn’t be so quick in saying that it is useless. Also, if you’re able to get funding during your MA or PhD studies, as many schools offer, you can avoid a huge amount of debt coming out of a graduate degree.
got to agree with you, i completely disagree with the grad school statement…
especially if you could not only get a FREE graduate degree… but have the school (or someone else, i.e. employer) PAY you to get that graduate degree.
Agreed. An undergraduate professor of mine once told me to never pay for a graduate degree. I took that advice seriously, and would not have gone to grad school had I not received assistantships. Although I also agree that you shouldn’t go to grad school to postpone the “real world.” In my experience (two years post grad and working full time), the real world is a bit simpler anyway!
This is by far the best “what I wish I knew column.” Strikes the right balance of having fun, being responsible and looking toward the future. In my opinion, #1 is very important. Internships show you a glimpse of what the real world is like.
Would also add 51. Every time you meet someone new, try to make a good impression
You have the best name on PGP.
#18 - Pres I have this conception of you in my mind… you’re ruining it.
Oh? And what conception is that?
A well-mannered southern or midwestern girl who is cool/funny and can hold her own with the guys, but not hold her own so much that she frequently needs a plunger.
Correction: “A well-mannered midwestern girl living in the South who is cool/funny and can hold her own with the guys. She needed a plunger once.”
That’s not that bad. I still don’t own a plunger though. It’s like admitting defeat w/r/t my digestive system.
Have you seen what drunk girls will try to flush down a toilet?
I’m afraid to ask how you’ve been oh hand to see that.
Love #9, so true
Except we’re all out of college now. No regrets postgrads.
Disagree with the Greek house exec board. Was a very large part of the conversation during interviews (including the one for my current one). Shows them you are a real straight shooter with upper management s written all over you.
Definitely agree with you here. Being involved with your fraternity is an awesome way to expand your network and have people open doors for you in the professional world.
Where’s the, “If you decide to creampie a chick, make sure you have a mask on.”
#19….all I have to say about this is I WISH we had Google Docs in undergrad which eliminates this issue completely.
Killer closer.
Yep. #50 was easily my favorite. Peaking at 18-22 would be pretty damn depressing.
Amen.
People who give unsolicited advice will not be around in 5 minutes let alone 5 years while you live out the consequences of following their advice. Take it with large grains of salt. Oh, and I-drank-too-much-and-gave-myself-a-haircut-to-prove-a-point-I-forgot-which-point haircuts will grow out eventually.
#7…I see what you did there.
I sincerely disagree with number 2. If everyone only pursued a “practical” degree than our nation’s cultural and intellectual value would plummet dramatically. I don’t think our college business and engineering majors would appreciate a rush of new businesspersons and engineers vying for new jobs. Also, history produces graduates with a wide set of skills. History majors are some of the best trained students in research methods and scholarly writing. History students go on to become lawyers, teachers, scholars, members of think tanks, and even members of the business community! Also, of presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries, the most common major was history.
I think the other problem I have with this list is #5. While it is true that most prospective employers will not ask for your transcript, listing honors such as cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude, along with other academic honors can significantly help your chances at getting hired and you can only do that by earning a high GPA. A high GPA does not necessarily compensate for a lack of interpersonal skills but straight C’s in college will not get you a job either. Also, while employers may not ask for your transcript, many internship sites do, and as we know from this list internships are the building blocks of your résumé.
#3 is false.
Agreed…its amazing how knowing how to use vLookup makes you an Excel expert. Most older people (aka “bosses & management”) don’t know a ton about Office much less how to utilize it to improve processes, etc. Its amazing how much a basic knowledge of Excel and the forethought to utilize Google to figure out new uses for it have helped me in my career.
^This. In the first month of my post-grad office job I was absolutely shocked at how poorly people knew how to use Excel. I had to show my boss how to make PivotTables for gods sake. This shit should be mandatory knowledge for working adults in 2013, but for some reason it still isn’t.
Generally, I agree. Suggestion though: rather than list your GPA, list your rank (if it doesn’t suck) within your major — It shows you were willing to work harder than other people through the same stuff. #3/120 in your engineering class is much more impressive and might more actually reflect your work ethic than listing 3.42 GPA.
Alternatively you can list honors status (if you had it / your school gives it) or find an honors society that has a minimum GPA requirement, join it, and list that on your resume. It’s basically an indirect, less-douchey way of saying “my grades were excellent”.
Good list, but I must ask why are you working at a job you’re unhappy with?
I’m not. I actually love my job. The pay sucks, but the benefits are impressive. Mostly, I just wish I had a window.
Unlike you, some people need to pay bills and eat.
Same reason everyone works a job they hate - you need money to stay alive in modern society, and the hiring market isn’t exactly super-strong right now, especially for people fresh out of school. Congrats on your trust fund.
This is a solid list. Agreed with some, not with others. I have shared it with many of my post grad friends. I’m sorry it’s been so long for me to comment. I’ve been deer hunting for the last week and have enjoyed the electronic sabbatical.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important #36 and #47 are…I took an AWFUL first job, even though it fit perfectly with what I was majoring in with a spiteful company that, even though I resigned with a month’s notice and no hard feelings, they gave me a bad reference for another job. Start looking early, start interning early, and for God’s sakes major in something useful. Or say hello to a career working at Starbuck’s with your creative writing degree.
I don’t agree with #13. There are plenty of ways to go to college and be dept free.
Even though college is about partying and having the time of your life, some people forget that this is the time when you are setting up the rest of your life. This is great advice for every college student
Except we are on a “Post Grad” website.. you know the whole Post Grad Problems thing.
Burn